[vox-tech] Modem Questions...

[ME]

On 19 Sep 2002, Richard Crawford wrote:
> First, is there such a thing as a modem splitter -- such that my wife
> and I can both be plugged in to the same phone line in a hotel room or
> something like that and be doing separate things?

For conventional US Analog phones, no. For ISDN and channeled systems, yes
- kind of with B channel allocation to different users or aggregation to
one user. Most places only offer analog service, and hotels frequently
partition their phone trunks differently with their own inhouse PBX and
eventually offer a lower quality analog service to rooms, or propriatry
commercial digital systems.

Windows XP comes with something that allows you to do IP Masq built-in. I
think they call it home networking modem sharing or something like
that. It is not really "modem sharing" frim a physical/datalink layer, it
is a layer 3/4 routing/masquerading layer sharing. You have seen it with
linux. Who in Linux land calls it modem sharing? Weird. I like IP
Masqerading or NAT (one to may). :-P (blech to MS for trying to introduce 
new catch phrases.)

> Second, is there any such thing as a "modem emulator"?  Let me explain. 
> The project involves logging in via a phone line to Citicorp's central
> servers.  The VPN software that's involved wants modem lines, and won't
> accept network lines... so my network at home is useless.  Is there some
> piece of software or hardware that I can hook up to our laptops to make
> the central servers *think* we're coming through a modem when we're
> really using a DSL connection?

Probably not (except the case of Maqs you see above). Their servers (ones
accepting dialup) likely offer your laptop one IP address whill all other
non-local IPs are probably blocked. If they know what they are doing with
networking, they can effectively force their users to only use dialup and
never use LAN based VPN, tunneled connections, etc. They are, of course,
the admins and can set things up this way so you cant use a LAN
(non-dialup to their bank of modems) connection.

If you get an IP address and VPN set up, and you get your Windows XP
system setup to "share" (really, a mini DHCP server, IP Masq system
etc) the connection gain with your wife (over a LAN connection between
both machines, or a sickly-to-setup direct-cable-connection (ick) then you
may be able to  (depending on call-back service they may use) share one
dialup connection much like you would in Linux land.

Now, from the MS people I speak to, they say it is a breeze to set this
up. Point click, and set up the box that does the dial-in, and then tell
the other box to automagically gets its network config from the dialion
system and you are done.

If they do not use standard TCP/IP or their application has its own thing,
or... then the above may not apply, but likely will since few places can
afford (percentage wise) the costs of such customizations and instead opt
for off-the-shelf solutions from MS or...

> All of this stuff involves Windows XP (shudder) on Dell Inspiron
> laptops.

Since you have uttered a vulgar term (Windows XP) in an OpenSource OS
forum, you owe the Internet Oracle, "all your base" , but since you run
windows, they allready "belong to us." ;-)

(Could not resist... the... urge... sorry)

-ME

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